Soviet Log 79
League of Extraordinarily Hot Schoolgirls With our successful infiltration of Rome's city walls we checked into our posh new rooms to plan our next steps. Well, some of us did - Kat told Mei Lin she could have her room and made off for parts unknown. The party of three sent Danicov and the SPA out to try and find her contact from our dreams, while Eva talked Roc down off the 'I have to ASM my armour before the party right now!' ledge, convincing her to head out for some reconnoitering along with Mei Lin. Rome's ancient libraries provided an abundance of arcane resources for Mei Lin to dive into further research on the nature of the ritual(s) involved in summoning the Herald. She claimed she needed two blocks because of the complex nature of the topic, not because she rolled 3 Natural Ones in 4 tries with 2 Bennies. Mei Lin's tome-assisted Mystic Lore research eventually discovered that: * While Mei Lin was unable to discern exactly who at the Vatican would likely be involved in casting the ritual, it clearly requires great magical power. It's a level 16 ritual. Mei Lin figures that means a caster capable of casting it at level 12 plus at least four apprentices (but likely more to avoid disruption). * It must be performed at a place of magical power such as a culturally significant location and/or ley line nexus. * There seem to be variants on the ritual. One is said to summon a demon who brings eternal darkness, and requires a blood sacrifice (from nuns on a previous occasion) to perform. Another contains no mention of a demon but requires the sacrifice of a major Relic. * Casting the ritual at the Lunar Eclipse (in three days) boosts its strength. * The way to reset the Herald's clock is to disrupt the ritual while it is being cast. Simply interrupting the casters, even with violent confrontation, will not be enough. We will have to kill enough of the casters that they are unable to complete the ritual (i.e. the main caster or most/all of the apprentices). * Disrupting the ritual will cause some sort of massive cataclysmic blast or volcanic eruption or earthquake or natural disaster likely capable of destroying the city. * The Ritual can be performed in a couple of ways, either just to speed up the Herald's arrival, or to try and control him or it. When controlling, the more Relics the better! Rocquette meanwhile determined that the sensor arrays at the Vatican are actually only just on par with the others that we had seen, but there seem to be a lot more mystics at the Vatican's checkpoints. Then she used her newfound Military Intelligence mastery to observe the Nazi Blimpinaught, revealing similar aerial patrols to those we had observed in Moscow, but also that the vehicle looked like a much upgraded model, with advanced field generators beyond her ken. Eva collected intel on, the pope's right hand, Bishop Hudall and the Master of Relics, Bishop Luca Landenburger. She followed leads to a casino frequented by both, where she was eventually able to ascertain that Bishop Hudall had been in deep to the house until six months ago, when he suddenly paid up the whole amount. Tracking down some underworld connections, she eventually figured out that Luca had stolen a minor relic and sold it via a gangster named Rudolfo. Bishop Hudall used money from the sale to clear his debts. Further investigation found that this is something they have repeated a number of times since. Eva's intel on the misdeeds of the Bishop and the Relic-Master was certainly interesting, but no one was able to immediately derive an actionable exploit for it, so we kind of tabled it for now. Hudal and Landenburger are close friends and any attempt to discredit them in the eyes of the clergy would almost certainly fail. In block 4, we reconvened for the trip to meet Danicov's contact, Dante. We also traded the useful information that we had gathered. Roc revealed that after extensive monitoring of Hans's private radio channel, she had finally intercepted a signal; it was Hans himself (in Berlin?), checking in with Fritz (in Rome? on the Blimp?). Hans said that Rouchling was pissed that we'd 'killed his pet', called us 'little bitches' and told Fritz that 'they' are 'growing two more', but also that 'they' could be a problem. We inferred that he was perhaps referring to the Murdersex Twins? (Mei Lin suspects fovalaka). He signed off by telling Fritz to let him know if he needed to come down here to handle his shit. Still no sign of Kat. We met with Dante in his office at the back of a small (and apparently forgettable) bakery/restaurant/shop. Danicov made the introductions; we started with small talk, progressed quickly to mind-bending world-altering revelations, and climaxed with shared dreams/lives of occult horror. Dante took it all pretty well, but he did need a bit of a moment at one point. He said that he would get the rest of his crew together, and offered up some info on the gangster who fenced the stolen minor relic: he worked for Don Bellagio (now Big Don in Rome) and would be at the party tomorrow. It emerged that the Mafia (an ally of both the Nazis and the Pope, but with its own interests which likely do not involve eternal darkness or demonic power in the hands of another faction) could potentially be an unlikely ally for us? Or not. All we know for sure id that they have not made their intentions known in any of the circles that Dante hangs out in. As we further discussed our plans for the upcoming Eclipse, we reviewed what we knew so far: the Papacy and the Nazis each have one of the Relics and each wants to summon the Herald and control it, while the Rude Nuns have the other two, and seem oddly uninterested. We know that the Pope or whomever is really pulling the strings in the Vatican (perhaps known power-broker Bishop Hudall) will try to cast the ritual at St. Peter's Basilica, and that the Nazis will want to try and highjack it for their own purposes. We reviewed that the Nazis would basically have the same problem that we have, as far as penetrating the Vatican looking pretty difficult (Rocquette's plan of disguising the group as Sacrificial Altar Boys was roundly voted down). Then it hit us: what if the Nazis used the same ley line manipulation ruse they did in Moscow to hide the Cathedral there to temporarily relocate the St. Peter's nexus to another location? That would be just like those fucking National Socialists! Can that really be done? What location would they use? We must investigate immediately! So off to the bar then for drinks, before the block ends, of course. We made our way over to the local Fascist bar (Schprockets?), Roc Nat 20ing her Beguile to walk us immediately past the lineup like we were the League of Extraordinarily Hot Schoolgirls. Eschewing the Italians and their leather-fringed shoes, we spotted a group of Nazi techs at a table in the back of the club and strutted across the dance floor straight towards them in unison like a pack of well-choreographed runway models, our hair flowing out behind us in slow motion and the lights throwing dazzling lens-flare off of our assorted jewellery. They were pretty much powerless against our charms (especially thanks to a little mystic intervention on Mei Lin's part to cover for Rocquette when she had trouble with her high-heels and almost stumbled). Soon the hapless and nameless NPCs were spilling the beans on all of our general and not suspicious questions, even the one guy who looked like he was really trying hard to recall the message behind that training film about comely resistance lasses. In his defence, Roc was probably sitting so that he could see her panties. We determined a number of pertinent insights about the Nazis' activities in Rome, including that the Airship makes regular runs to the Port of Rome (outside the city's perimeter defences) and also that there was some kind of large operation being prepped for at the Forum, with the Italians actually doing most of the work of course. Our ears definitely pricked up at that, since the Forum is likely on the list of places suitable for performing the Herald ritual! With the block about to come to an end, we bid our acquaintances a hasty adieu that left them confused and spent, then returned to the hotel. When we arrived however, the scene was abustle with police and ambulance. We stayed out of the limelight and skirted the crowd while trying to ascertain the cause, and were able to determine that there had been a murder in the hotel! The victim was one of the maids, who was apparently attacked in a supposedly empty room. We caught a glimpse of the body when they put it in the meat wagon, allowing the doctors in the group to diagnose multiple small stab wounds to the face and head and neck and chest and torso as the cause of death. Then we snuck around the building and went up the back stair to our rooms. Or at least Rocquette did, allowing her to start in to her sleep deprivation armour ASMing fiesta. Eva however was unable to shake her feeling of concern that the murder was not a coincidence, and might somehow be related to our stay at the establishment. She headed down to the floor where the crime took place, Mei deciding to tag along after a bout of indecision about yet another sleepless night. Soon they were quietly sneaking past the crime scene tape and into the room where the murder took place. Unfortunately, the place seemed to have been swept clean in a pretty professional fashion, then tromped on by the cops. Mei Lin used the pencil trick on a notepad to find a list of fancy department stores likely made by the murderer, though this only raised questions for now. Eva managed a Natural 20 Keen Senses check to pick up a faint carpet impression of a slight, feminine, footfall, but she and Mei Lin lost the trail in the stariwell where the carpeting ended. They carefully left the room undisturbed (quietly disposing of the next 2-3 sheets of notepad paper so that no one else could repeat the same trick). Rocquette hopes that Kat feels better after getting her Murder (Innocent Civilians) on. Rewards 11 Generic Roq 3 Random Points and 1 Benny Eva 1 Benny Category:Soviet